Improvement in signaling apparatus



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W. GRAVIT. Signaling AppaJr-atus- Patented June Il, 1878.

N.FETERS. FHOT0-L|THOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. n C

WILLIAM GBA-'vinger' ELK-HART, INDIANA. y Y

" |wijPRo-x/i:IVIY'ENI'I'1NSIGISJALINGAPPARATUS.l

Specific-ationforrning part of Letters yPatent No. 204,7 21,daterlrJuncll, 1.878 application filed y V1 .4.' April 1,1878. l

To all @chomjt may'concernel Y Be it known that I,'WILL'IAMGRAV1T, of

Elkhart, in the county of Elkhart and State of Indian a, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Signaling Apparatus; and I dohereby declare that the Ifollowing is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art-towhich it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, whichform a part of this specification. y

, My invention relates to signaling devices,

' more particularly to that class of signals which are adapted for useon railroads, bridges, and such places, where it is 'necessary toindicate the condition of the track vor positionr of the bridge, &c., tothe engineer or drivery of an approaching train or vehicle.

The invention consists in asemaphore havdouble-armed semaphore,of alantern of novel construction, which is also 'arranged to signal 'twolines, said lantern being constructedV with a series of xed lenses and alamp moving.l in f a vertical planefso that the moving of the lamp upand down within the lantern behind the lenses is made to give differentsignals, as

hereinafter more fully'set forth.

It also consists in combining the movableA lamp with a semaphore, bothdevices being connected by suitable mechanism, so as to operatesimultaneously.

And, further, it consists in the combination of said signaling deviceswith suitable connecting mechanism for operating the same at a distantpoint, all as hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an elevation of my signalingapparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same.

Referring to the parts by letters, A represents the pedestal or base ofthe supportingframe, which may be made of any suitable material andpattern, and hollow. The frame may also be made of any suitablematerial; but I prefer to make it of rods a a', said rods beingconnected and braced by horizontal plates b b.

B is the lantern or lenscase, which is rigidly secured 'to the plate vb.This case B has on three of its sides a series of lenses, C, arranged ina vertical plane, and said lenses may be of different colors to indicatedifferent signals, according to any prearranged system ot' signalingthat may be adopted.

D is the movable lamp and lamp-case, which is also provided withcolorless lenses d on the three sides corresponding with the three sidesof the casing B which have the lenses C. The lamp-casing D is secured tothevertical rod E, which passes through the central supporting-tube a"and through the upper and lower Aends of the lens casing B. To theupper'y end of this rod E a rack-bar, F, is secured; or the rack may beformed as a part' of the rod, and the .lower end of the rod E isprovided with a hook or similar attaching device, 72, to which a rope orchain, G, is secured. I, This rope is passed over an upper andlower'pulley, H H', which are journaled to and within the pedestal A,and said rope isV then led to any convenientfpoint at which the oper-`atormay be located, where it maybe attached to an ordinary switch-leveror other suitable mechanismfor convenience of operation.-

I is a hollow cap piece', lto which the shaft J of the semaphore isjournaled, and within which the rack-bar F reciprocate-s vertically.

- The shaft J isprov-ided with a pinion, which is located within thecap-piece and gears with the rack-bar F-t.-

2 f. A t

i is a guide-block, which holds the rack-bar in gear with the pinion.

K K is a double-armed semaphore, the arms of which are secured to theshaft J, and diverge radially therefrom. k k are the disks on the end ofthe semaphore-arms, which may be colored in the usual manner. L is aweight, secured to the semaphore at the point where the'arms converge ormeet.

All the parts of the apparatus within which the operating mechanism islocated are made watertight or inclosed, so that no rain, snow, or dustcan get at the operating parts; but portions of the pedestal andcap-pieee and lantern-case are made removable, so that the workmen canget at the mechanism, supply it with lubricating material, and get atlthe lamp, to light it and cleanse the lenses.

The lenses, for convenience, are secured to plates, which slide ingrooves formed on the corners of the lantern-case, so that they can bereadily removed therefrom when desired; but each slide should be so madethat it will only iit its own groove, and thus avoid mistakes, whichmight occur if the slides were wrongly placed.

The lever or other device for operating the apparatus may be located inthe open air, or in any convenient part of the depot or other buildingconnected with the railroad.

The connections may be made of chains and connecting-rods or wire rope,as found most convenient or desirable.

The operation is as follows: When the arms of the semaphore are raisedor in position as indicated by Fig. l of the drawing, they indicatedanger on both lines; and when the apparatus is left to itself, or theconnections should be severed by the breaking of the rope, the semaphorewill always assume this position through gravity by reason ofthe weightL. By drawing on the rope, one arm may be lowered and the other raised,thereby indicating danger on one line and safety on the other 5 and bystill further drawing on the operating mechanism, both arms may belowered into the position shown by Fig. 2 of the drawings, therebyindicating safety 011 both lines. In this way one semaphore is made tosignal two roads.

The operation of signaling at night is accomplished by the same means orconnecting apparatus which operates the semaphore. When left to itself,the lamp-case D will remainat the bottom of the lens-case B, the lightof the lamp shining through the lower of the series of lenses C, whichmay be colorless or colored, according to the prearranged system ofsignaling in use.

When it is desired to alter the signal, the connecting-rope is drawntoward the operator,

thereby raising the rod E, and with it the lamp D, until the lamp-lenseis brought opposite another of the lenses G, which is so colored as toconvey the desired signal.

On releasing the strain on the operatingi. rope, the lamp will againdescend to the bottom of the case B through its own gravity and that ofthe semaphore-weight L, the lamp and semaphore always moving together bymeans of the pinion and rack-bar F.

In this way it will be seen that by a proper arrangement of the colorsof the lenses (l the same lamp is employed to indicate either safety ordanger on both lines, or danger on one line and safety on the other, asthe case may be.

Of course, it will be understood that by any prearranged system ofsignaling any particular position of the semaphore-arms may be adoptedto convey certain information; but I prefer to use them in the mannerdescribed, so that the arms will always assume the danger position whenthe apparatus is left free to move by gravity, in the manner described.

' Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is y y p l. A semaphore constructed,substantially as described, with two arms, K K, pivoted to a commonshaft, J, and arranged to operate so as to simultaneously signal twolines `or tracks, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the semaphore l, having the weighted end L, withthe movable lantern or lamp chamber D and lens-casing B, the semaphoreand lamp-chamber being connected by suitable mechanism, so as to operateby gravity, inthe manner and for the purpose set forth. y

3. The combination of the semaphore K, pinion and rack-bar F, rodElampchamber D, rope or chain Gr, and lens-case B, substantially as andfor the purpose specified.

4. The cap-piece I, tube a, case B, and hollow pedestal A, constructedsubstantially as and for the purpose speciied.

In testimony that `I claim the foregoing as my own I aflix` my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM GRAVIT.

Witnesses:

JAY L. TAYLOR, GEORGE C. WILKIsoN.

